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Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eating only half a pepernoot and putting it back in the bowl is crazy behavior. In this case the gesture is to not speak with a mouth full of food, which is understandable.
Also, she made the gesture twice without saying "mmmmm" while making it. Imo, that sound is part of the gesture.
I haven't been to Italy, but this was a huge deal for me living in Israel. In Israel, it's a substantial cultural divide between descendants of Arab countries refugees and those coming from Europe. It's generally seen as "proper" to not use your hands. In the military, especially in basic training, that would probably send you doing pushups.
I live in the Netherlands for about five years now. To be honest, I didn't notice people talking with their hands... well, outside of the Middle East or North African immigrants. Also, I don't really have Dutch friends to the point that we'd spend enough time together for me to notice how and if they use their hands during a conversation. In more formal context, I don't see the Dutch doing that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> that some behaviors transcend culture and go back to instinct My first thought was "is it only Italians and Dutch, or are the two the only groups they could cover with their given funding?".
> Here we ask whether, in a task where gestures are particularly useful—namely, spontaneous demonstration in which no real object is present—speakers of a high-gesture (Italian) and a low-gesture (Dutch) culture show similarities or differences in how they teach to adults versus children.
It was drilled into me since childhood that speaking with your hands is lacking "class". On a conscious level, I know not to judge people by something as superficial, but on subconscious level, if someone is swinging their hands in the air while talking to me: I don't want to talk to them. It's the same with being loud, or using stop words etc. I haven't been to Italy, but this was a huge deal for me living in Israel…
Must be true. I have seen Dutch and Italian parents teaching their kids valuable social concepts with the exact same swift motion of an open hand.
I only realized that dutch people are handful communicators when moving abroad. Apparently I do it unconsciously all the time. For example we gesture when something tastes good and I don't even say "tastes good" out loud i just wave my hand next to my cheek. But quickly learnt that people think you're crazy in the head instead of complimenting the chef. https://youtube.com/shorts/5a9Md32gSQg?is=fJ9BYQEt-CpEUE-g
It was drilled into me since childhood that speaking with your hands is lacking "class". On a conscious level, I know not to judge people by something as superficial, but on subconscious level, if someone is swinging their hands in the air while talking to me: I don't want to talk to them. It's the same with being loud, or using stop words etc. I haven't been to Italy, but this was a huge deal for me living in Israel…
um, uh, like, you know
often when I discuss very abstract complicated subjects I use hand gestures to "place" the interlocking concepts under discussion at different positions in front of me while talking, and as I talk I will then refer to these "virtual objects" via gestures as a way of referring back to the previous point where they were brought in and "positioned" in the discussion.
Hearing people do a looser version too. I constantly find myself putting abstract ideas "over here" and "over there", then gesturing back at those virtual objects later in the conversation.
Basically: pointing as pronouns.
Put-That-There (1980) was based on exactly this idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIn8p4_4CQ
>Put-That-There was a gestural interface created in the Architecture Machine Group in 1980.
It seems reasonable to expect that some behaviors transcend culture and go back to instinct (tho expectations often conflict with reality) which probably is not even human specific. IIRC Konrad Lorenz pointed out in Solomon's Ring that rooks will exhibit "infantile behavior" when grooming in a mated couple which, well, humans do it when they cuddle too. As an aside: my favorite italian gesture is "tasty" (put index o…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG0FAKkaisg
Oh, rooks! I though you said rocks. Never mind!